Juvenile waivers to adult courts

SIGNIFICANCE: Minors may be tried as adults in a number of ways, and the frequency with which this happens is on the increase.

At one time, the United States had no separate court system for juveniles, and all minors tried on criminal charges were tried as adults. However, within a few years of the establishment of the juvenile court system in 1899, virtually every US state had a separate juvenile justice system. In contrast to the adult criminal justice systems, the systems for juveniles were meant to emphasize rehabilitation rather than punishment. Eventually, however, many people agreed that there were some cases in which it was desirable to try certain minors as adults, and so several systems evolved that allowed juvenile cases to be waived, or transferred, to adult courts. However, the number of juveniles being tried as adults is much lower than it was in the past.

A juvenile case can be waived through any of three major processes. The first of these is statutory waiver. For statutory exclusion, a state law specifies that for cases involving minors over a certain age who commit certain offenses, the case must be heard in adult court. In California, for example, juveniles over the age of fourteen who are accused of certain kinds of murders must be tried as adults. Roughly half of the states have statutory exclusions.

The second type of waiver is judicial waiver. Under this system, if a person over a certain age is accused of certain offenses, a hearing (often called a “fitness hearing”) is held. The judge considers several factors to determine whether the minor is amenable to treatment by the juvenile justice system. These factors might include the minor’s age and intelligence, as well as the degree of complexity and sophistication of the offense committed by the minor. Nearly all states had some form of discretionary judicial waiver, according to the Sentencing Project in 2025.

The third type, prosecutorial waiver, is also known as direct file. In states that permit this form of waiver, prosecutors may choose to file the cases of juveniles of specified ages who are accused of certain crimes in adult, rather than juvenile, courts. No hearings are required.

Modern Trends

In response to a publicly perceived upswing in juvenile violent crime during the early 1990s, many states began increasing the number of offenses for which juvenile cases could be waived to adult courts. They also lowered minimum ages for waivers and added additional types of waivers. As a result, increasing numbers of youths were being tried as adults. However, studies of juvenile justice have raised questions about the wisdom of this trend, as juveniles who are waived to adult courts have shown increased tendencies to become repeat offenders.

This trend also raises questions of racial justice. Cases of juveniles belonging to racial and ethnic minorities have been far more likely to be waived to adult courts than those of white juveniles—a trend that has been increasing disparities within the criminal justice system in the United States. Moreover, many critics believe that it is unethical to expose any youths to adult penalties and adult correctional facilities and to abandon rehabilitative attempts among young offenders.

Due to legislative changes in forty-four states and the District of Columbia, as well as federal funding incentives, the number of juveniles charged as adults in the United States has steadily decreased throughout the twenty-first century.

Bibliography

Fagan, Jeffrey, and Frank E. Zimring, eds. The Changing Borders of Juvenile Justice: Transfer of Adolescents to the Criminal Court. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.

"Implementing FOIA's Satutory Exclusion Provisons." Justice.gov, 6 Dec. 2022, www.justice.gov/oip/blog/implementing-foias-statutory-exclusion-provisions. Accessed 15 Oct. 2025.

Mistrett, Marcy, and Espionza, Mariana. "Youth in Adult Courts, Jails, and Prisons." The Sentencing Project, 16 Dec. 2021, www.sentencingproject.org/reports/youth-in-adult-courts-jails-and-prisons/. Accessed 15 Oct. 2025.

"Reducing Transfers to the Adult System." Juvenile Law Center. Juvenile Law Center, 10 Feb. 2015. Web. 26 May 2016.

Rovner, Joshua. "DC Youth in Adult Courts." The Sentencing Project, 16 Sept. 2025, www.sentencingproject.org/fact-sheet/dc-youth-in-adult-courts/. Accessed 15 Oct. 2025.

Williams, Frank P., III, and Marilyn D. McShane, eds. Encyclopedia of Juvenile Justice. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage, 2002.